Price: $750 - Coffee/tea in the morning and afternoon are included. Lunch is not included.

Cancelation policy: Refund will be issued only if we have a waitlist.

Audience:
This course is suitable for parents, social workers, child and youth workers, caregivers or teachers working with children with attachment issues. This training is also relevant for therapists and clinicians who want to increase their skill set of attachment focused treatment. The model is relevant for those working with children aged four through to adult years. This is phase one of certification in DDP Training and is limited to 24 participants.

Healthy relationships in the early years facilitate optimal brain integration and development and are correlated with mental health. However, when children experience abuse, neglect, or multiple caregivers, the high level of stress associated with these experiences changes the architecture of their brain and makes it difficult for them to establish relationships. In the absence of good enough relationships, children are at risk for neurological, cognitive, emotional and behavioural challenges that take them away from the pathway towards mental health.

Many children, when placed in a setting that provides attuned, and sensitive responsiveness, are able to learn how to engage in and benefit from the dyadic experiences provided by a foster or adoptive parent or a different family member. Other children who have been much more traumatized and compromised in those aspects of their development have much greater difficulty responding to their new caregiver.

Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy—is family-based and focused on facilitating the child’s ability to establish a secure attachment. Caregivers are present and engaged in the therapy process. DDP is based on attachment theory and interpersonal neurobiology and provides clinicians ways of creating safety for both parents and children who are struggling in their relationships. DDP helps parents understand the vulnerability beneath their child’s difficult behaviour and provides tools to help parents and other adults respond in ways that co-regulate their child and help them make sense of their experiences. This then helps the child to feel understood and accepted and more open to new experiences in relationships.

This four day workshop introduces basic theory and understanding of brain development and the principles of Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP). The principles of DDP will guide case examples for the purposes of learning how an adult can support a child who cannot trust relationships. We will use formal presentations, discussion, videotapes of treatment sessions, role-play and handouts.

Participants will:

Understand how toxic levels of stress impacts on brain development.

Understand insecure and disorganized attachment patterns and the relevance for ongoing development.

Understand the vulnerability behind challenging behaviour and how that behaviour might be adaptive.

How to use Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy (P.A.C.E.) and other principles of DDP to help a child regulate their emotions, make sense of their world in less shame-based ways and to learn how to trust relationships.

Betty J.B. Brouwer, has more than 20 years of experience working with children,
adolescents and their families. Betty works for the Shalem Mental Health
Network, based in Hamilton, Ontario, where she serves as the Director of
Attachment Services.